Textile spindle



Jan. ll, 1955 C. c. BELL TEXTILE SPINDLE Filed May 1, 195o a F ma United States Patent O TEXTILE SPINDLE Charles C. Bell, East Greenwich, R. I., assignor to Universal Winding Company, Boston, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application May 1, 1950, Serial No. 159,345

4 Claims. (Cl. 57-135) The present invention relates to a spindle for spinning and twisting machines, and more particularly to such a spindle adapted to rotate an out-of-balance package of yarn at high speed for extended periods of time.

In the following specification and claims the term yarn is employed in a general sense to apply to all kinds of strand material, either textile or otherwise, and the designation package is intended to mean the product of a winding machine whatever its form.

Spindles generally in use in the textile industry cornprise a substantially rigid spindle blade rotatably mounted in a spindle step by means of fixed upper and lower bearings. When a bobbin of yarn that is out-of-balance dynamically is rotated by such a spindle at the present day high spinning speeds, an intense vibration is set up by the bobbin as it attempts to rotate about its free axis and is restrained from so doing by the spindle blade. The vibration thus set up is transmitted from the blade to the spindle bearings, spindle step, spindle swing, and to the frame of the overall machine. Such vibration is extremely noisy and bothersome, but more important, it induces a drag in the spindle causing it to use excessive amounts of power and, if it is permitted to continue, it will destroy the bearings supporting the blade and cause the bearing surfaces on the blade itself to become burned and scored.

Attempts have been made to eliminate or reduce vibration caused by out-of-balance bobbins by mounting the blade loosely in the spindle step so that the blade is free to oscillate under the influence of an out-of-balance bobbin, yto permit the bobbin to rotate about an axis closer to its free axis. Such an arrangement is, however, far from the complete solution to the problem. Considerable vibration is set up in such spindles, and in addition the rapid oscillation of the step bearing and blade in the spindle step agitates the oil contained therein to such an extent that some of it escapes therefrom with attendant damage to the fibers being twisted, due to oil stain, and destruction of the spindle bearings, due to lack of lubrication.

It is accordingly a primary object of the present invention to provide a spindle capable of continuously rotating an out-of-balance bobbin at high speed.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a spindle capable of rotating an out-of-balance bobbin at high speed and with relatively little vibration.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a spindle capable of rotating an out-of-balance bobbin at high speed around an axis passing through, or adjacent to its free axis.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a spindle capable of rotating an out-of-balance bobbin at high speed having a portion of the spindle blade adapted to flex to allow said bobbin to rotate around an axis passing through, or adjacent .to its free axis.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a spindle capable of rotating an out-of-balance bob-bin at high speed having a portion of the spindle blade relatively exible and supported by bearings permitting said blade to rotate while in a liexed condition.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide means for lubricating the bearings of a textile spindle.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear herein-after.

The invention accordingly comprises the apparatus pos- ICC sessing the construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which are exemplified in the following detailed disclosure, and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is an elevational view, partly in section of a spindle incorporating the present invention; and

Figure 2 is a view similar to Fig. l but illustrating the manner in which the lower portion of the spindle blade exes under the inuence of an out-of-balance bobbin.

The present invention will be described herein as applied to a spindle particularly adapted to use on an up- -twister. It will be understood, however, that it is not intended to limit the invention to an up-twister spindle and that it can be applied to all types of textile spindles, as for example, spindles for use with ring-twisters, captwisters and spinning machines.

The present invention provides a spindle for inserting twist in a strand of textile material. The spindle comprises a spindle blade having an upper portion thereof adapted to rotatably carry a package of yarn which comprises the supply of the material to be twisted, and a lower portion that is relatively flexible and which comprises a cantilever beam spring, rotatably mounted in a spindle step by means of spaced upper and lower bearings. When an out-of-balance package is mounted on the upper portion of the blade, and rotated thereby at high speed, the tendency of said package to rotate about its free axis, instead of around its geometric axis, exerts a radial force on said upper blade portion which causes the flexible portion of the blade, located between the spaced upper and lower bearings to ex or bow by fulcruming about said upper bearing. This flexing or bow- -ing permits the upper blade portion to be displaced laterally to a position which corresponds to, or is a close approximation of, the free axis of the package of yarn, and thus said package is rotated about its free axis or said close approximation thereof.

Referring now to the drawing wherein there is disclosed a preferred embodiment of the present invention comprising a spindle step 10 formed from a hollow upper portion 12 and a hollow lower portion 14. The outer diameter of the lower end of portion 12 is reduced to form an annular shoulder 16 and to permit said lower end to be pressed into the upper end of lower portion 14. Before upper and lower portion 12 and 14 are assembled as above described an annular spindle mounting flange 18 is placed on the lower end of upper portion 12 and against shoulder 16. Mounting flange 18 is held in position on step 10 by reason of being clamped between shoulder 16 and the upper end of lower portion 14. Preferably, a ring of brazing metal is interposed between mounting ange 18 and the upper end of lower portion 14 when step 10 is assembled and the unit is then furnace brazed to form a unitary element. A whorl lock clip 19 is slidably carried by flange 18 in groove 21 formed in its periphery and is adapted to selectively prevent or permit removal of the spindle blade from step 10.

Spindle step 10 is adapted to be resiliently mounted in an opening provided in a spindle swing 20, which may be of any convenient design, by means of spindle step flange 18 and felt washer 22 engaging the upper surface of said spindle swing 20, and spindle mounting spring 24 interposed between the lower surface of spindle swing 20 and mounting nut 26, threaded on lower portion 14 of spindle step 10 all in the manner conventional in the art.

A spindle blade 28, adapted to carry and rotate a package of yarn comprising a bobbin 30 having a supply of yarn Y wound thereon, is rotatably mounted in spindle step 10 by means of upper bearing 32 and step bearing 34. Spindle blade 28 is comprised of an upper substantially rigid portion 36 of suicient length to pass through the axial opening in bobbin 30 and tapered an appropriate amount to cause said bobbin to firmly seat thereon.

A hollow spindle whorl 31, adapted to engage a driving belt to rotate spindle blade 28 in a conventional manner, and having a latch engaging i-ange 33 at its lower edge, is

rigidly attached to said spindle blade at the lower end of tapered portion 36. The diameter of the bore of whorl 31 is larger than the outside diameter of upper step portion 12 to permit said whorl to telescope over said upper portion when blade 28 is assembled in step 10, and to permit said whorl to cock with said blade without interfering with said step.

A substantially cylindrical bearing surface 38 is formed on blade 28 adjacent upper portion 36, and a cylindrical bearing surface 40 of smaller diameter than bearing surface 38 is provided adjacent the lower end of blade 28. The lower end of blade 28 is ground flat in a plane substantially at 90 degrees to the axis of said blade to provide a thrust bearing surface adapted to cooperate with a thrust bearing to be described more in detail hereinafter. The lower end of blade 28, between bearing surface 40 and the flat lower end thereof is preferably tapered as at 41 at approximately a 45 degree angle to facilitate inserting bearing surface 40 into step bearing 34 and to reduce the area of said flat thrust surface.

The diameter of blade 28 is preferably considerably reduced immediately below bearing surface 38 by means of a smoothly curved shoulder 42 so that the length 44 of blade 28 which is located between bearing surface 40 and said shoulder 42 is relatively flexible.

The bore of upper portion 12 of spindle step 10 is enlarged at the top thereof to provide a bearing receiving recess 45 above an annular internal shoulder 46. A selflubricating anti-friction bearing 48 is located in bearing recess 45 to cooperate with upper bearing surface 38. Anti-friction bearing 48 is preferably a roller bearing comprising a plurality of relatively short rollers 62 to permit bearing surface 38 to cock as the relatively flexible length 44 of blade 28 flexes under the influence of an out-0fbalance package of yarn without causing the bearing to jam or lock. Rollers 62 are supported vertically by washer 64 which rests on shoulder 46. An outer bearing race 66 is supported against lateral movement by the wall of bearing recess 45 and vertically by washer 64. Rollers 62 are spaced circumferentially around race 66, and prevented from falling out of position when blade 28 is removed from step 10 by a cage or roller retainer (not shown) of any convenient design. Rollers 62 and race 66 are held in bearing recess 4S by bearing retaining and lubricating ring 68, preferably formed of an oil impregnated sintered bronze material, but which can be formed from any other convenient porous material which possesses a sufficient degree of hardness and which is nonabrasive, locked in bearing recess by washer 70 which engages the top of said ring 68. The upper edge of upper step portion 12 is rolled inwardly over the outer edge of washer 70 to lock it and the entire upper bearing assembly 32 in step 10. The bore of bearing retaining and lubricating ring 68 flares outwardly at its lower end to a diameter slightly smaller than the inner diameter of bearing race 66 so that it extends over and is adapted to contact a small area or" the end of each roller 62 to prevent their vertical displacement and to transmit thereto a small quantity of oil. The upper end of bearing retaining and lubricating ring 68 is provided with a rabbet 72 which cooperates with the inner wall of bearing receiving recess 45 to form a groove which is packed with an oil impregnated felt ring 74. Washer 70 is provided with an oil hole 76 located above felt ring 74 through which oil can be applied to felt ring 74 to replenish the oil carried thereby as it is used in the normal operation of the spindle.

Lower spindle bearing 34 comprises a cup-shaped plug 50 which closes the lower end of the lower portion 14 of spindle step 10 and is held in place therein by any convenient means. A bushing 52, preferably formed of an oil impregnated sintered bronze material, but which can be formed of any other convenient porous bearing material, is located in and snugly held by cup-shaped plug 50. Bushing 52 is adapted to cooperate with bearing surface 40 on spindle blade 28 to journal the lower end of said blade. Bushing 52 is of greater length than the depth of the bore of cup-shaped plug G and therefore extends out of said plug 50 an appreciable distance to form together with plug 50 and the inner wall of step portion 14 an annular groove which is packed with a ring of oil irnpregnated felt S4. The upper end of bushing 52 is provided with a flange 53 having a diameter substantially equal to the bore of lower step portion 14 whereby it snugly engages the inner surface of said bore and encloses felt ring 54. The periphery of flange 53 is provided with one or more notches or grooves 55 to provide an oil passageway therethrough to permit minute quantities of oil to flow down the wall of step 10, from upper bearing 32, and in to felt ring 54 to replenish its oil supply.

The lower end of bushing 52 is enlarged to form an axial pocket 56. A thrust ball 58 is loosely contained in axial pocket 56 and rests on a hardened plate 60 interposed between the lower end of bushing 52 and the bottom of the bore of cup-shaped plug 50. It will thus be seen that spindle blade 28 is rotatably mounted in spindle step 10 by means of upper bearing 32 and lower bearing 34 and that thrust ball 58 provides a thrust bearing for the end of blade 28 to support the weight of said blade and the weight of the package of yarn carried thereby. The fact that thrust ball 58 is loosely contained in axial pocket 56 permits it to roll around a circular path bounded by the wall of said pocket to cause said ball to be in rolling contact with the flat thrust surface on blade 28 thus providing an anti-friction thrust bearing for said blade.

When a dynamically out-of-balance object is rotated at high speed there is a strong tendency in that object to rotate about its free axis. When such an out-of-balance object is prevented from rotating about its free axis, as by a rigid shaft or, when the out-of-balance object is a textile package, by a rigid spindle, its attempts to rotate about its free axis sets up vibration in the shaft or spindle, the intensity of which is a function of the degree of outof-balance. When an out-of-balance textile package is rotated by the spindle of the present invention the tendency of said package to rotate about its free axis causes the flexible portion 44 of blade 28, located between its bearing surfaces 38 and 40, to bow or flex. This bowing or flexing of blade portion 44 permits blade 28 to fulcrum around upper step bearing 32, as illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 2, to displace its upper rigid portion 36 laterally from the axis of bearings 32 and 34 to allow the textile package to rotate around its free axis or a close approximation thereof, thus eliminating, or reducing to acceptable limits, all vibration due to dynamic out-ofbalance. Flexible portion 44 of blade 28 should be flexible enough to permit the out-of-balance package of yarn carried by the spindle to bow or flex it a sufficient amount to permit said package to rotate around its free axis or an approximation thereof. At the same time the flexible portion 44 should be sufficiently rigid to resist whip in the spindle, as it passes through critical speeds in starting and stopping, to prevent the yarn package from snapping past its free axis to a point where the centrifugal force generated by the yarn pacakage as a mass would continue to bend blade 28 until it broke or the yarn package was thrown off the outwardly bent blade.

The lower portion of blade 28, i. e. that portion of the blade extending from the midpoint of upper bearing surface 38 to the midpoint of lower bearing surface 40, forms a cantilever beam spring which fulcrums around antifriction bearing 48. Preferably the lower portion of blade 28 has a spring constant ranging from 100 to 175 pounds per inch of deflection. The term spring constant as used in the present specification and claims is defined as the result obtained by dividing a load applied to the free end of a cantilever beam spring by the distance said load deflects said cantilever beam spring, and can be expressed by the formula:

Spring eonstant=lg Deflection F The spring constant of the lower portion of spindle blades embodying the present invention is measured by clamping the blade rigidly at the midpoint of upper bearing surface 38 and applying a load at the midpoint of lower bearing surface 40. A spindle blade having a lower portion having a spring constant included in the range of from to 175 pounds per inch of deflection, determined in the above described manner, is sufficiently rigid to resist the above described whip, when the spindle is rotating typical twister bobbins in commercial use today at 16,000 revolutions per minute, and yet is flexible enough to permit any commercially produced yarn package normally employed on twisting machines to rotate about its free axis, or a close approximation thereof. However, a spindle blade having a lower portion wherein the spring constant when measured as above described, is as low as 50 pounds per inch of deflection will function satisfactorily with many bobbins, and a spindle blade having a flexible portion wherein the spring constant is as high as 300 pounds per inch of deflection gives an appreciable reduction in vibration as compared with all prior art spindle blades, and a spring constant higher than 175 pounds per inch of deflection but not exeeding 300 pounds per inch of deection, is of advantage 1n some applications.

A specific example of a spindle blade incorporating the present invention and having a spring constant of about 135 pounds per inch of deection is as follows: The ilexible portion 44 of the blade, i. e., that length between curved shoulder 42 and bearing surface 40 is substantially three and one-half inches long, the distance from the upper end of flexible portion 44 to the midpoint of bearing surface 38 is substantially one-quarter inch, and bearing surface 40 is substantially one-half inch long. Flexible portion 44 is tapered from a diameter of substantially one-quarter inch at its top to a diameter of substantially one-eighth inch at its bottom. Bearing surface 40 is substantially one-eighth inch in diameter throughout its length. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention contemplates obtaining spindle blades having spring constants falling in the desired range by making the lower portion thereof shorter and of smaller diameter, or longer and of larger diameter than the specific example. It will also be appreciated that the desired spring constant can be obtained in the lower portion of a spindle blade even though the flexible portion has a different contiguration. As for example, the ilexible portion can have a greater or lesser degree of taper, it can be cylindrical, or it can be tapered inversely from that shown in the drawing, i. e., increasing in diameter from top to bottom. Furthermore, the flexible portion can be any combination of the above shapes, as for example, tapered through part of its length and cylindrical through the rest of its length.

Since certain changes may be made in the above apparatus without departing from the scope of the invention herein involved, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description and shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. A textile spindle for rotating an out-of-balance package of yarn at high speed and about its free axis or a close approximation thereof comprising the combination of a spindle step, spaced upper and lower bearings in said step, a spindle blade, bearing members on said blade and spaced apart a distance substantially equal to the spacing between said bearings for engagement therewith to rotatably mound said blade in said step, said blade having a relatively rigid length thereof extending out of said step and being capable of engaging and rotating a package of yarn, a hollow open ended whorl carried by said rigid length and surrounding in spaced relation thereto the upper end of said step and said upper bearing, and a relatively flexible length having a spring constant included in the range of 50 to 300 pounds per inch of deflection in said step and located between said bearing members, whereby said exible length is flexed by an out-of-balance package of yarn carried and rotated by said rigid length at the normal operating speed of the spindle the amount necessary to assume a bowed shape of sufticient curvature to displace said out-of-balance package of yarn from its geometric axis to permit it to rotate about its free axis or a close approximation thereof.

2. A textile spindle for rotating an out-of-balance package of yarn at high speed and about its free axis or a close approximation thereof comprising the combination of a spindle step, spaced upper and lower bearings in said step, a spindle blade, bearing members on said blade and spaced apart a distance substantially equal to the spacing between said bearings for engagement therewith to rotatably mount said blade in said step, said blade having a relatively rigid length thereof extending out of said step and being capable of engaging and rotating a package of yarn, a hollow open ended whorl carried by sald rigid length and surrounding in spaced relation thereto the upper end of said step and said upper bearing, and a relatively exible length having a spring constant included in the range of to 175 pounds per inch of deflection in said step and located between said bearing members, whereby said exible length is exed by an out-of-balance package of yarn carried and rotated by said rigid length at the normal operating speed of the spindle the amount necessary to assume a bowed shape of suicient curvature to displace said out-ofbalance package of yarn from its geometric axis to permit it to rotate about its free axis or a close approximation thereof.

3. A textile spindle for rotating an out-of-balance package of yarn at high speed and about its free axis or a close approximation thereof comprising the combination of a spindle step, spaced upper and lower bearings in said step, and a spindle blade having a length thereof comprising a cantilever beam spring having a spring constant included in the range of 50 to 300 pounds per inch of deflection, means adjacent each end of said cantilever beam spring for engagement with said bearings to rotatably mount said blade in said step, said blade having a relatively rigid length thereof extending out of said step and being capable of engaging and rotating a package of yarn, means including a hollow open ended whorl carried by said rigid length and surrounding in spaced relation thereto the upper end of said step and said upper bearing for rotating said blade, whereby said cantilever beam spring is flexed by an out-of-balance package of yarn rotated by said rigid length at the normal operating speed of the spindle the amount necessary to assume a bowed shape of sufficient curvature to displace said outof-balance package of yarn from its geometric axis to permit it to rotate about its free axis or a close approximation thereof.

4. A textile spindle for rotating an out-of-balance package of yarn at high speed and about its free axis or a close approximation thereof comprising the combination of a spindle step, spaced upper and lower bearings in said step, and a spindle blade having a length thereof comprising a cantilever beam spring having a spring constant included in the range of 100 to 175 pounds per inch of deflection, means adjacent each end of said cantilever beam spring for engagement with said bearings to rotatably mount said blade in said step, said blade having a relatively rigid length thereof extending out of said step and being capable of engaging and rotating a package of yarn, means including a hollow open ended whorl carried by said rigid length and surrounding in spaced relation thereto the upper end of said step and said upper bearing for rotating said blade, whereby said cantilever beam spring is exed by an out-of-balance package of yarn rotated by said rigid length at the normal operating speed of the spindle the amount necessary to assume a bowed shape of sufficient curvature to displace said out-of-balance package of yarn from its geometric axis to permit it to rotate about its free axis or a close approximation thereof.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 156,205 Chatterton Oct. 27, 1874 184,742 Whorwell Nov. 28, 1876 619,008 Battersby Feb. 7, 1899 627,062 Hughes June 13, 1899 1,638,394 Chapman Aug. 9, 1927 1,745,112 Nainteau Ian. 28, 1930 2,046,965 Panot July 7, 1936 

